The Wisdom Chronicle

The Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year. I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. The determination of relevance lies with you. Blessings, Jim Whiddon

381. SAVING AMERICA “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV) It is not up to lost people to turn the US around. It is up to SAVED people.

— Richard Land

382. B. FRANKLIN’S VALUES Franklin was an enthusiastic supporter of the evangelical minister George Whitefield during the First Great Awakening. Franklin did not subscribe to Whitefield’s theology, but he admired Whitefield for exhorting people to worship God through good works. Franklin published all of Whitefield’s sermons and journals, thereby boosting the Great Awakening.

When he stopped attending church, Franklin wrote in his autobiography:

“… Sunday being my studying day, I never was without some religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that He made the world, and governed it by His providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter.”

Excerpt From: Lee, Richard. “In God We Still Trust: A 365-Day Devotional.”

383. SOCIETY C. S. Lewis described human history this way: “Terrific energy is expended—civilizations are built up—excellent institutions devised; but each time something goes wrong.  Some fatal flaw always brings the selfish and cruel people to the top and it all slides back into misery and ruin.  In fact, the machine conks.  It seems to start up all right and runs a few yards, and then it breaks down.  They’re trying to run it on the wrong juice.  That’s what Satan has done to us humans.”

384. DATING Are all dates romantic?

Obviously not—at first. But one thing leads to another, and there is no kind of “liking” between a man and a woman that is unaffected by the fact that they are of opposite sex.

The more hours you spend alone together, the more likely you are to end up horizontal, no matter how firmly you had intended abstinence.

We have rational control, and we should work to strengthen it. But we should be realistic about its weaknesses. Your rational control is:

1. Strong in deciding what circumstances to put yourself in; 2. Weak in deciding what emotions to have when you’re already in those circumstances; and 3. Weakest in deciding what to do when you are already under the influence of those emotions.”

Excerpt From: Budziszewski, J. “Ask Me Anything.”

385. TELEVISION “Groucho Marx said he found television educational only because “every time someone switches it on, I go into the other room and read a book.”

Excerpt From: Harris, Michael. “The End of Absence.”

386. TECHNOLOGY “With every increase in technology there is a corresponding decrease in free time.” –Peter Drucker 387. GODLY INCENTIVE “The gospel gives us a new and different incentive for godly living than we had when we were under the law as a system for salvation. When we realize the purpose of the death of Christ as we think of it in gratitude, we find a new incentive to be holy. It is not fear and self-confidence, but gratitude and love.

Being saved doesn’t mean you are free from having a master. You can be either a slave to sin or a servant of God; but you cannot be neither, and you cannot be both.”

Excerpt From: Keller, Timothy. “Romans 1-7 For You.”

388. LEGISLATE MORALITY? “As to legislating morality, Aristotle famously observed that all law rests upon a necessary foundation of morality. If the government’s exercise of power is not in the service of the common good, then its actions are illicit. Simply put, morality is the only thing you can legislate.”

Excerpt From: Koukl, Gregory. “Tactics.”

389. DEATH BY MINNOWS “Getting eaten by a whale or nibbled to death by minnows results in the same thing, although one demise is typically more difficult to diagnose.”

–Steve Haas

390. COURAGE “You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be. And one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid. You refuse to do it because you want to live longer. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you’re afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab you, or shoot at you or bomb your house; so you refuse to take the stand. Well you may go on and live until you are 90, but you’re just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90. And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit. You died when you refused to stand up for right. You died when you refused to stand up for truth. You refused to stand up for justice.”

— DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.,

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The Wisdom Chronicle

The Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year. I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. The determination of relevance lies with you. Blessings, Jim Whiddon

371. MARRIED TO CHRIST “Does the gospel leave you free to live in any way you choose? No! says Paul. You can be either married to the law, or married to Christ, but you cannot be unmarried.

What an incredible metaphor—we are married to Christ! To be a Christian is to fall in love with Jesus and to enter into a legal, yet personal, relationship as comprehensive as marriage.

When you get married, no part of your life goes unaffected. So though Christians are now not “under law,” they have every aspect of their lives changed by the coming of Jesus Christ. No area is untouched.

Being “married to Christ” is the final answer to the question: Can a Christian live as he or she chooses? No, because we are in love with Christ!

Marriage does entail a significant loss of freedom and independence. You cannot simply live as you choose. A single person can make decisions unilaterally but a married person cannot. There is duty and obligation. But, on the other hand, there is now the possibility of an experience of love, intimacy, acceptance and security that you could not have as a single person. Because of this love and intimacy, our loss of freedom is a joy, not a burden. In a good marriage, your whole life is affected and changed by the wishes and desires of the person you love. You get pleasure from giving pleasure. You seek to discover the wishes of your beloved and are happy to make changes in accord with those wishes.”

Excerpt From: Keller, Timothy. “Romans 1-7 For You.”

372. WHO CREATED WHOM? What’s wrong with your professor asking, “Did God create us or did we create God?” Considering the variety of completely incompatible religions in the world, I think it’s a pretty good question. You could say something like this:

“It’s interesting that you ask that question because my own faith tradition recognizes the fact of religious diversity just like you do. But our teacher Paul gave a different explanation. He explained that God created us and we “created” gods—false gods—because we don’t want to acknowledge the true one. In fact, the Christian idea is that the manufacture of false gods is still going on today. The only difference is that instead of having names like Zeus and Athena, today they have names like Sex, Getting Rich, My Inner Self, and Getting My Way.”

Excerpt From: Budziszewski, J. “Ask Me Anything.”

373. FAITH IN TECHNOLOGY “Our theology once shaped our understanding of technology, but now we wonder how technology may alter our theology.

From each [successful] tech company, we can deduce a creation narrative. They follow a similar path, from humble beginnings, when the founders were seen as foolhardy, to the early test launch when a few more believers came on board (as additional investors). Many continue to scoff at a small band of outsiders taking on an established system. How could they dare to take on such hierarchy and dominance? The narrative shifts when the scoffers are ultimately defeated by those they previously dismissed (think Apple versus Microsoft). The scrappy outsiders become esteemed insiders, establishing a new standard. They liberate the public from a life of dull servitude into greater clarity, purpose, and practice.

“Some will recognize the similarities to the biblical narrative, where a creator God aligns with a marginalized people to take on established kingdoms and principalities. Jesus undercuts the established practices of his time with an upside-down ethic that supports the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed. Such a countercultural power rearrangement was bound to create resistance, but despite the appearance of defeat, Jesus and his band of devoted followers rise and overturn the dominant people and paradigm. The outsiders become the insiders, the powerless are given access and authority. It becomes easy to see how faith in technology becomes an alternative religion, a way to reverse the curse of the fall, to provide comfort to hurting people, to offer us a glimpse of eternity.

American optimism has morphed into faith in technology. The only problem—technology cannot save us.

Excerpt From: Detweiler, Craig. “iGods.”

374. HUMILITY “Without help from others, we’re often blind to what we do and why we do it. We learn wisdom in community. If we stand alone, we fall. That’s why humility looks for mirrors. The humble don’t just tolerate input; they seek it.”

Excerpt From: Harvey, Dave. “Rescuing Ambition.”

375. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

— MLK

376. INDISPENSABLE “Graveyards are filled with indispensable people.”

— Unknown

377. COLLECTIVE COURAGE “Mountain climbers are roped together to keep the sane ones from going home.” — Unknown

378. GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH  “In the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers set forth their reasons for separating from England. The Declaration gives a detailed list of legal offenses that England had left unresolved, but the Founders saw these as more than isolated wrongs. Rather, our forefathers saw these wrongs as a part of a predetermined plan to take away their religious liberties and reestablish the Church of England to rule over their hearts and souls, thus enslaving the colonies. In that light, one better understands the power of Patrick Henry’s fiery words.”

Excerpt From: Lee, Richard. “In God We Still Trust: A 365-Day Devotional.”

379. SIN REMOVED! The psalmist promises, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). Aren’t we glad he said the east from the west instead of the north from the south? The north and south have an end. There is the North Pole and the South Pole. However, the east and west know no end; they simply keep going. God removes our sin from us forever.

Excerpt From: O. S. Hawkins. “The Joshua Code.”

380. FIRST TEE “Each time a golfer steps to the first tee surrounded by this tantalizing fragrance, he stands at even par. We all own par on the first tee. Hope is eternal. It’s on the 18th green that one has to face the music. How similar to life!”

Excerpt From: David L. Cook. “Golf’s Sacred Journey.”

 

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New Proofs for God's Existence

New Proofs for God’s Existence

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Such was the name for a talk recently given at UT Dallas by Robert C. Koons, a philosophy professor from UT Austin. Actually, Koons is currently a visiting scholar at Princeton but took time out of his busy schedule to make a special trip to the Dallas area to speak on our campus.1  I was originally wondering whether or not Koon’s requested title might be over-stating the theistic case by claiming to be a “proof.” Wanting to be conservative in our claims, I added this footnote on our poster used for advertising the event:

“’Proof’ in the sense that the conclusion follows out of logical necessity if the premises are granted. Arguments are made for the truth of the premises but it is recognized that the premises cannot be proven with mathematical certainty.”

In retrospect perhaps this was probably unnecessary as everyone should know that even a valid proof is only as good as its premises. Even in math, axioms upon which proofs are based cannot themselves be proven. Gödel’s second incompleteness theorem shows that all but the most trivial mathematical systems cannot demonstrate their own consistency. But I think that Koon’s argument did rise to the level of what is meant by proof in philosophy. There are ways of resisting any proof, but the intellectual cost of denying a premise that nearly all people accept in other contexts is a high price to pay.

So what is this “new proof?” The overall argument Koons was making is actually one of the oldest around – a cosmological argument for God’s existence similar to that argued by ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, Jewish, Christian, Muslim thinkers, and even 10th-century Indian thinkers of the Nyaya School. However, Koons did present new arguments for the truth of the key premise of the argument.

Here is a video of Koon’s recent presentation on the UTD campus.

Summary

Here is my rough attempt to summarize Koons’ arguments but you really need to see the video for details. Koons started off by saying that if you can know that there is a hand with five fingers in front of you, then you can know that God exists. You know about your hand through empirical knowledge – by observation and memory, and the testimony of others. These are the same means that are necessary for scientific and historical reasoning. Anything that we know empirically is linked by a chain of causes. For example, sensory perception involves light being reflected into your eyes, stimulating your retina such that a message is sent through your optic nerve to the brain. Scientific reasoning infers causes from effects or effects from causes. If any of the steps involved in seeing your hand could occur without a cause, knowledge would be impossible.

Does everything have a cause?

Everything involved as a link in the chain of empirical knowledge must have a cause. If, for example, visual sensations could occur without any cause whatsoever, it would undermine our scientific inferences because such “uncaused” sensations would be completely unpredictable and would have a probability which could not be estimated. We would have good reason to think that we might be “Boltzmann brains” right now – with nothing but illusory sensations.

Empirical knowledge, such as knowing there is a hand in front of you with 5 fingers, is impossible unless we know that every step involved necessarily has a cause. We can’t know the principle that every step in a causal chain necessarily has a cause by empirical means (at least without vicious circularity). Thus, this type of minimal principle of sufficient reason must be a self-evident principle of reason. To doubt this is the unhealthy kind of doubt because it undermines all empirical knowledge.

However, surely there is one sort of thing that could fail to be caused without threatening empirical knowledge – things that are obviously uncausable. We here refer to things which are not just uncaused but self-evidently uncausable. If absolutely everything had a cause, then the network of causation would have to contain either loops (things that caused themselves) or infinite regresses. However, nothing can cause itself, since it would have to simultaneously both exist (in order to be the cause) and not exist (in order to be a potential effect). So if we can show the impossibility of an infinite regress of causes, then the contingent effects we see in the universe must ultimately trace back to an uncausable cause.

Analogies to Show the Impossibility of an Infinite Regress of Causes

Couldn’t there be an infinite regress of causes just extending back into the eternal past? Koon argues not and gives several examples of contradictions entailed by an infinite regress of causes:

1)      The Grim Reaper – this analogy was originally conceived by Jose Benardete in 1964 and modified slightly by Alexander Pruss.2  Consider a Grim Reaper (GR) who will kill Fred in 1 BC but if only if all other GRs failed to previously. Similarly, an additional GR will kill Fred in 2 BC if he is still alive in that year. There is a separate GR for each year prior to that with the same instructions going back into the infinite past. This story is possible if an infinite regress is possible. However, this scenario is not logically possible because it leads to a contradiction. At least one Grim Reaper has initiated a death warrant, since otherwise, all would have failed to do their duty. Suppose it was the N’th GR. But GR #N would have acted only if all earlier GR’s did not act. So both GR #(N+1) and GR #(N+2) did not act. But if GR #(N+2) and all earlier GRs did not act, then GR #(N+1) would have acted and thus a contradiction results. Thus we have a reductio ad absurdum, and an infinite regress is logically impossible.

2)      Even if an infinite regress was possible, an explanation would still be required according to a new argument by Alexander Pruss: http://alexanderpruss.blogspot.com/2013/06/cannonball-and-regress.html.

3)      Koons also provides a counter-example from considering an infinite fair lottery. See the video for details.

Koons then argued that the attributes that we can deduce for a first cause to the universe correspond to some of the key properties of God in classical theism. He also went on to cite some scientific evidence that points to a Creator from evidence for an origin to the universe and from the fine-tuning of the laws and constants of nature to be life-supporting.

Koons closes by saying that “my overall point here is [that] theistic metaphysics is not a competitor to empirical science. Quite the contrary, if you don’t buy into theistic metaphysics, you’re undermining empirical science. The two grew up together historically and are culturally and philosophically inter-dependent… If you say I just don’t buy this causality principle – that’s going to be a big big problem for empirical science.” This is a powerful argument for God’s existence – if you want to explore additional writings on this subject I recommend the following:

Powerpoint summary of a similar argument by Joshua Rasmussen

A paper by Alexander Pruss and Richard Gale published by Cambridge University Press

Notes

[1] He was coming from New Jersey anyway to Waco to participate in a philosophy conference at Baylor honoring Alvin Plantinga but made the special trip to Dallas.

[2] Jose Benardete’s Infinity: An Essay in Metaphysics (1964)

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The Wisdom Chronicle

The Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year. I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. The determination of relevance lies with you. Blessings, Jim Whiddon

361. COMPANIONS “Do you ask me what kind of friends you should choose? Choose friends who will benefit your soul, friends whom you can really respect, friends whom you would like to have near you on your deathbed, friends who love the Bible, and are not afraid to speak to you about it, friends that you would not be ashamed of having at the coming of Christ, and the day of judgment. Follow the example that David sets for you: he says, “I am a friend to all who fear you, to all who follow your precepts” (Psalm 119:63). Remember the words of Solomon: “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm” (Proverbs 13:20). But depend on it, bad company in this life, is the sure way to procure worse company in the life to come.
Excerpt From: J. C. Ryle. “Thoughts For Young Men.”
362. GREAT LEADER DEFINITION “Someone nobody misses when they are gone.” –Unknown
363. NEVER STOP! “Sophocles completed his Oedipus trilogy at ninety. Titian painted the magnificent Christ of Pity at ninety-nine,” wrote poet Roy Addison Helton in 1939. “At seventy Franklin began the task of gaining for our struggling colonies the alliance of France. At eighty Thomas Edison was deep in research as to the possibility of producing rubber from native American plants.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem for the fiftieth anniversary of the class of 1825 at Bowdoin College. He ran through a list of older giants, like Cato who learned Greek at eighty, Chaucer penning The Canterbury Tales at sixty, and Goethe finishing Faust when “80 years were past.”
Excerpt From: Farrell, Chris. “Unretirement.”
364. OLD SCHOOL FOOTBALL (1893) “It was a time when the forward pass was still illegal, meaning there were only two ways to move the ball—running it and kicking it. Teams had three downs to make five yards, but if their field position was poor, they often chose to punt on first or second down. The reasoning was simple. Fumbles were commonplace, and the penalty for many of the rules infractions was a loss of the ball at the spot of the foul. Coupled with a scoring system that gave more value to a field goal than a touchdown, the decision to run a play close to your own goal line was a risky one.”
Excerpt From: Revsine, Dave. “The Opening Kickoff.”
365. One advantage in growing older is that you can stand for more and fall for less. –Monta Crane
366. MALE EMOTIONS “Joe told me about a common condition—known to psychologists as normative male alexithymia—that goes a long way in explaining why many men struggle with relationships. The word alexithymia has Greek roots. It means the inability to put emotions into words. As described by psychologist Ronald F. Levant, who has written extensively on masculinity: “Normative alexithymia is a predictable result of the male gender role socialization process. Specifically, it is a result of boys being socialized to restrict the expression of their vulnerable and caring/connection emotions and to be emotionally stoic.” Levant cites a significant amount of research showing that males actually begin life more emotionally expressive than females. Infant boys are more easily startled and excited, exhibit less tolerance for tension and frustration, cry sooner and more often, and change moods more rapidly than do infant girls. The socialization process takes hold with remarkable speed, though. By the age of two, boys are already showing verbal signs of tuning out and suppressing their emotions.
Excerpt From: Marx, Jeffrey. “Season of Life.”
367. QUOTES
“Grandchildren are God’s way of compensating us for growing old.”
— Mary H. Waldrip
“Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.”
— John W. Whitehead, The Stealing of America
“The quality of a man’s life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor.” — Vince Lombardi
368. MARRIAGE “In marriage, being the right person is as important as finding the right person.” — Wilbert Donald Gough
“Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads, which sew people together through the years.”
— Simone Signoret
“The goal in marriage is not to think alike, but to think together.” — Robert C. Dodds
369. SELFISH AMBITION Adam and Eve’s ambition for promotion actually had the opposite effect. Detached from God, their love dwindled and their souls shrank. Their world became no bigger than themselves.
We grow small trying to be great.
The early church used a fascinating visual to describe the selfpreoccupying nature of sin: incurvatus in se. It means we “curve in on ourselves.” In the service of self, our desires boomerang. When a hardwired desire for glory is infected with incurvatus in se, noble ambitions collapse. The quest for self-glory rules the day—as it did that day in Eden. In our desire to be great, we actually shrink ourselves.
But among all the passions which mislead, endanger, and harass the mind, none is more hostile to its peace, none more blind, none more delirious than the love of distinction.”
From “Rescuing Ambition” by Dave Harvey
370. MORALITY IS CRITICAL John Adams (1735–1826) served as the second president of the United States. Read what he wrote in an October 1798 letter to the Massachusetts militia:
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Excerpt From: Lee, Richard. “In God We Still Trust: A 365-Day Devotional.”
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Godbuster: A Debate With Elliot George

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This past week I engaged in a radio debate with an atheist on Unbelievable on Premier Christian Radio (which you can listen to here). My interlocutor was a British atheist, a retired biology teacher who goes by the pseudonym Elliot George. In his book, Godbuster, George attempts to dismantle theistic belief. I knew when I saw the front cover that the book was unlikely to be particularly professional or intellectually challenging. After all, who writes “Dare you read this?” on the front cover of an intellectually serious piece of work? This initial impression was further compounded when I noticed that the book contains no citations or references, except for the occasional in-text citation to YouTube or Wikipedia. Apparently Elliot George was even reliant upon Wikipedia as his source for the ten commandments (p. 125).

The intellectual content of the book is also confronted with severe problems. The book showed little, if any, engagement or interaction with high-level Christian argumentation. No serious Christian arguments were addressed by the book. Instead, George throughout the book persists in attacking strawmen, even redefining terminology to comport with his position. Read more

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The Wisdom Chronicle

The Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year. I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. The determination of relevance lies with you. Blessings, Jim Whiddon

351. AFFLICTIONS “Although God will one day wipe every tear from the eyes of His redeemed, He does not promise to heal every hurt in this life. Every now and then we get glimpses of some of the reasons. Here’s what Paul wrote about one of his own afflictions:

“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)”

Excerpt From: Budziszewski, J. “Ask Me Anything.”

352. LIAR’S PARADOX “A man says, “The statement I am making is a lie.” The paradox is that if the statement is true, then it can’t be true because he just said it’s a lie; but if the statement is false, then he’s lying, but that makes it true after all.”

Excerpt From: Budziszewski, J. “Ask Me Anything.”

353. OUR NATION’S SECURITY American statesman Daniel Webster understood how crucial it is for a nation “under God” to steadfastly guard its foundations of righteousness. In 1852, he warned his beloved America:

“If we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us, that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”

Excerpt From: Lee, Richard. “In God We Still Trust: A 365-Day Devotional.”

354. TECHNOLOGY “Nights that used to be spent gathered around the fire gave way to the radio and television, before splintering into individualized screens. We inhabit the same space but follow our own feeds. We have an iPhone in our hand and buds in our ears. How can we hear God (or each other) amid the din?

“We love our devices and loathe what they do to us.”

Excerpt From: Detweiler, Craig. “iGods.”

355. TECHNO-IDOLATRY Theologian Marcus Borg insists, “The dominant values of American life—affluence, achievement, appearance, power, competition, consumption, individualism—are vastly different from anything recognizably Christian. As individuals and as a culture . . . our existence has become massively idolatrous.” Technologies meant to empower us can also blind us.” Excerpt From: Detweiler, Craig. “iGods.”

Darryl Tippens, pointed out to me the potential double entendre embedded in the question, “Isn’t this the artisan, the maker of things?” It could also have been read after the fact as “Is not this the son of the Artisan, the Maker of (all) Things?”

In his book Pilgrim Heart, Tippens calls Jesus the Great Artist, the model for how we are to respond to beauty. He writes, “If God is the Master Builder, then Christ is the supervising architect and agent of Creation: “for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible . . . all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:15–17). Given this original cosmic assignment, it seems appropriate that in his earthly life in Nazareth, Jesus was a craftsman by trade. Having built the universe, it seems fitting that, as a human being, he would turn to building houses or furniture.”

Jesus makes far more references to construction and finance than agricultural allusions. Israel is a land of ample stone but comparatively few trees. Perhaps it is wise to think of Jesus more as a mason than a carpenter. Jesus makes almost no reference to the carpenter’s craft but does refer to the importance of selecting a cornerstone (Matt. 21:42–44) and the decoration of tombs (Matt. 23:27–28), the importance of building on a firm foundation (Matt. 7:24–27), and the need to conduct careful cost analysis prior to construction (Luke 14:28–30). In light of all this knowledge of the building trade it is hard to resist the conclusion that Jesus was involved in construction.

Excerpt From: Detweiler, Craig. “iGods.”

356. TWAIN AUTOGRAPH “A nine-year-old boy knocked on Mark Twain’s hotel door to get an autograph, not knowing that Mr. Twain was very ill. The boy was about to be sent away when Mr. Twain called from his sickbed and asked that the boy be sent in to see him. He then wrote in the boy’s autograph book, “So live, that when you come to die, even the undertaker will be sorry.”

Excerpt From: Bruce, David. “Mark Twain Anecdotes and Quotes.”

357. CAREER “In The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, a nurse who works in end-of-life care reports that the single most common regret her patients express is that “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” You can endlessly delay gratification, doing work you hate because of the promise of future reward, or you can find your way to work that is its own reward.”

Excerpt From: Deresiewicz, William. “Excellent Sheep.”

358. BUSYNESS DANGERS “As hectic and frustrating as modern life can be, the biggest dangers are not material or temporal inconveniences. A person can do physical labor twelve hours a day, six days a week for an entire life and not suffer many ill effects. In fact, he or she may be healthier for it. But if the strain is mental—as is the case for most jobs and for most of us—the negative impact on the body can be huge. So don’t ignore the physical danger of busyness. Just remember the most serious threats are spiritual. When we are crazy busy, we put our souls at risk. The challenge is not merely to make a few bad habits go away. The challenge is to not let our spiritual lives slip away. The dangers are serious, and they are growing. And few of us are as safe as we may think.

We’ve heard countless sermons warning us about the dangers of money. But the real danger comes after you spend the money. Once you own it you need to keep it clean, keep it working, and keep up with the latest improvements. If the worries of life don’t swamp us, the upkeep will.

Jesus knows what he’s talking about. As much as we must pray against the Devil and pray for the persecuted church, in Jesus’s thinking the greater threat to the gospel is sheer exhaustion. Busyness kills more Christians than bullets.” Excerpt From: DeYoung, Kevin. “Crazy Busy.”

Excerpt From: DeYoung, Kevin. “Crazy Busy.”

359. HABITS “Habits are like stones rolling down hill–the further they roll, the faster and more ungovernable is their course. Habits, like trees, are strengthened by age. A boy may bend an oak when it is a sapling–a hundred men cannot root it up, when it is a full grown tree.

Excerpt From: J. C. Ryle. “Thoughts For Young Men.”

360. HANLON’S RAZOR: “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.”

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Discovery of the Lost Temple

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Thutmoses III and the Biblical Exodus

 A friend of mine who studies Ancient Near Eastern languages at Yale University (Matthew Glassman), alerted me to an interesting article about an amazing discovery recently made in Cairo, under someone’s house no-less!

According to the article, Egypt’s Antiquities Minister, Mamdouh al-Damaty stated that, “a group of men discovered a 3,400 year old pharaonic temple from the reign of the warrior king Thutmoses III.”[1]

Around the Mediterranean (especially in Middle Eastern countries), antiquities looting has become a big problem in some areas. Apparently the men were digging for items to sell illegally on the antiquities market. The seven men who were digging hit “historic” pay-dirt – they discovered an entire pharonic temple!

The site is located in Al-Badrashin which is located approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the capital of Cairo. The men were briefly detained, then released because they were not digging at an “official” Egyptian heritage site. The Egyptian Antiquities Ministry has now taken over, and will be beginning an excavation at the site in the days ahead, according to gulfnews.net.

What has been discovered so far, are seven tablets, several column bases made of pink granite as well as a pink granite statue in the temple. This is certainly a remarkable discovery, and one that I am keenly interested in following in the days ahead.

How Does Thutmose III Fit Into the Exodus Story? A Little Background

Thutmose III was the sixth pharaoh of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty. His name means “Thoth is born.”

From chronological considerations found in the Bible,[2] and an understanding of the cultural, historical and archaeological background of the 18th Dynasty, it is very likely that Amenhotep I, was the pharaoh who issued the decree in Exodus 1:15-16 to kill all male Hebrews.[3]

As we look closer into this time of Egyptian history, we also discover that Thutmose I (1528-1508 B.C.), the son of Amenhotep I, had a daughter named Hatshepsut.

Hatshepsut is well known from historical and archaeological sources, and she has a very interesting story herself! She’s even found a place in the Bible (although not by name, but as pharaoh’s daughter)!

In order to secure royal inheritance rights, Hatshepsut married her half-brother Thutmose II. When Thutmose II died prematurely, Hatshepsut then assumed the role of pharaoh along with and her younger (male) nephew, (& stepson) Thutmose III.

As William Murnane observes, “Although Hatshepsut did not dethrone her nephew, she asserted a claim to royal power equal to his and, as senior coregent, took precedence over him in contemporary monuments.”[4] During her co-regency with the younger Thutmose III, Egypt enjoyed a time of prosperity and great building. This recent temple discovered in Egypt was very possibly built during that time.

One of the most well known structures from that period, which still survives today is the Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple (also called Deir el-Bahari) located in the Valley of the Kings. It is a remarkable building even to this day!

Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple (Deir el-Bahari) in the Valley of the Kings

Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple (Deir el-Bahari) in the Valley of the Kings

It was Hatshepsut who very likely drew baby Moses from the Nile (Ex. 2:5)! Her father, Amenhotep I, after all, was the pharaoh who issued the decree to kill all of the Hebrew first-born male slaves.

According to the chronological considerations, and for other reasons that would be difficult to summarize briefly here, Thutmose III then, was the younger “brother” that Moses would have possibly grown up with pharaoh’s household in Egypt. Thutmose III would have also been the same pharaoh who would have sought to kill Moses when he discovered that Moses had killed an Egyptian.

According to OT scholar Dr. Eugene H. Merrill:

…it is important to note that the biblical narrative requires a rule of almost forty years for the pharaoh who sought Moses’ life, since the king who died at the end of Moses sojourn in Midian was clearly the same one who had threatened him nearly forty years earlier. Of all the rulers of Dynasty 18 only Thutmose III reigned long enough to qualify. In fact, he was the only pharaoh at any period during which the exodus could have occurred who reigned that long except Ramses II (1304-1236).[5]

The Three Functions of Archaeology: Affirm, Clarify & Illuminate

Since I have been teaching the Old Testament for over ten years, as well as classes on archaeology, I have taught that archaeology can function in at least three ways:

(1) Archaeology can affirm the historical basis of the text. Did this person exist? Did this place exist? Etc…

(2) Archaeology can clarify certain passages in the text and,

(3) Archaeology can illuminate the various cultures in which the text was written.

This latest “accidental” discovery in Egypt of a temple from the time of Thutmose III, certainly affirms this pharaoh’s existence, power and influence – the pharaoh who very likely sought Moses’ life.[6]

Future research will surely also clarify and illuminate this fascinating person and period in biblical history!

 

[1] http://gulfnews.com/news/region/egypt/king-thutmosis-iii-s-temple-found-by-accident-1.1405869 (cited, Nov. 5, 2014).

[2] Such as the reference in 1 Kings 6:1 and Ex. 7:7 which states that Moses was 80 years old when he led the people from Egypt (assuming an approximate exodus date of 1446 B.C.)

[3] See also Eugene H. Merrill, Kingdom of Priests: A History of Old Testament Israel (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996), pp. 58-64.

[4] William J. Murnane, “New Kingdom (Dynasties 18-20)” in David Noel Freedman, Editor in Chief, The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Volume 2 D-G (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 348-53.

[5] Merrill, pg. 62-3.

[6] Not that this is the only evidence for Thutmose III. It is just another piece which affirms his reign and influence. We actually have his mummified remains!

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The Wisdom Chronicle

The Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year. I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. The determination of relevance lies with you. Blessings, Jim Whiddon

341. CHRISTIANS MUST VOTE! After weeks of hearing about the campaign nonstop, it’s not surprising some people suffer from Election Fatigue. I do. But it’s the duty of every citizen to study the issues and cast an informed vote. Think of all the Americans today who are in harm’s way right now, bringing freedom to the Iraqis so they can vote for their own leaders. Think of the ten million Afghans who just voted, some of them young women who had never had any rights before. If freedom is worth dying for, it is certainly worth voting for. And Christians need
to remember that voting is not only an act of good citizenship, it’s also our biblical duty. We all know that Christians are to submit themselves to the governing authorities (Romans 13). What we forget is that God uses His people as agents to help determine who the governing authorities will be. Just as in the Old Testament He sent Samuel out to pick his leaders, so He calls us in a free democratic society to choose, by our votes, the leaders He then ordains. But sometimes, you say, those leaders are corrupt. Well, that’s our fault, not God’s. Just because the democratic system doesn’t always give you good rulers doesn’t mean we don’t keep trying. It matters who we support. Voting for pro-life leaders, for example, is very important. And our efforts make a difference. Look at what happened over the years with a ban on partial-birth abortion—defeated year after year, until President Bush was elected, and he signed it into law. And in the process of that debate the public was educated, thereby helping to create a culture of life.
The same holds true for so many other issues. If we don’t make ourselves heard, the consequences will be grave—not just for us, but for our fellow citizens. Like it or not, in a free society, we’re God’s agents for picking righteous, able men and women. And Christians, as Augustine said, are meant to be “the best of citizens.” So this Election Day, you must prove those words true by doing what God has called us to do: vote.
— Breakpoint, Nov. 3, 2014
342. FREE WILL “No robot can love because love, by its nature, is something freely chosen. Do you see how this works? To be made in His image we must be capable of love; to be capable of love we must have free will; but to have free will, we must also be capable of willing wrongly.”
Excerpt From: Budziszewski, J. “Ask Me Anything.”
343. LINCOLN ON PRAYER “After the Union Army’s devastating loss at the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862, President Abraham Lincoln confessed this:
“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that
I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed
insufficient for that day.”
Excerpt From: Lee, Richard. “In God We Still Trust: A 365-Day Devotional.”
344. READING BOOKS Billy Crystal says, “When I buy a new book, I read the last page first. That way, in case I die before I finish, I know how it ends.”
Excerpt From: Paul Finebaum & Gene Wojciechowski. “My Conference Can Beat Your Conference.”
345. JESUS’ OCCUPATION? “Is not this the son of the tektōn?” Most translations refer to Jesus as a carpenter’s son. It was intended as a cut-down, a way to mock Jesus’s presumption. How can an unskilled laborer presume to position himself as a prophet?
Darryl Tippens, pointed out to me the potential double entendre embedded in the question, “Isn’t this the artisan, the maker of things?” It could also have been read after the fact as “Is not this the son of the Artisan, the Maker of (all) Things?”
In his book Pilgrim Heart, Tippens calls Jesus the Great Artist, the model for how we are to respond to beauty. He writes,
“If God is the Master Builder, then Christ is the supervising architect and agent of Creation: “for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible . . . all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:15–17). Given this original cosmic assignment, it seems appropriate that in his earthly life in Nazareth, Jesus was a craftsman by trade. Having built the universe, it seems fitting that, as a human being, he would turn to building houses or furniture.”
Jesus makes far more references to construction and finance than agricultural allusions. Israel is a land of ample stone but comparatively few trees. Perhaps it is wise to think of Jesus more as a mason than a carpenter. Jesus makes almost no reference to the carpenter’s craft but does refer to the importance of selecting a cornerstone (Matt. 21:42–44) and the decoration of tombs (Matt. 23:27–28), the importance of building on a firm foundation (Matt. 7:24–27), and the need to conduct careful cost analysis prior to construction (Luke 14:28–30).
In light of all this knowledge of the building trade it is hard to resist the conclusion that Jesus was involved in construction.
Excerpt From: Detweiler, Craig. “iGods.”
346. DEATH & BREATH “At one time, people chewed cloves to make their breath smell good. Once, a melancholy man who was depressed by statistics regarding death told Mark Twain, “Do you realize that every time I breathe an immortal soul passes into eternity?” Mr. Twain replied, “Have you ever tried cloves?”
Excerpt From: Bruce, David. “Mark Twain Anecdotes and Quotes.”
347. CAREER “In The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, a nurse who works in end-of-life care reports that the single most common regret her patients express is that “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” You can endlessly delay gratification, doing work you hate because of the promise of future reward, or you can find your way to work that is its own reward.”
Excerpt From: Deresiewicz, William. “Excellent Sheep.”
348. PRESTIGE “The only thing worse than failing to realize any of your dreams, is seeing them all come true. You were meant for something more. Even if you could be known the world over, what does it matter if you have no time to be known by God?”
Excerpt From: DeYoung, Kevin. “Crazy Busy.”
349. PARENTING “When I was young I had six theories and no kids. Now I have six kids and no theories.”
— Alistair Begg
350. CAPITALISM BUILT ON TRUST, NOT GREED “Over centuries, in fact, the evolution of capitalism has been in the direction of more trust and transparency, and less self-regarding behavior. Not coincidentally, this evolution has brought with it greater productivity and economic growth. That evolution did not take place because capitalists are naturally good people. Instead it took place because the benefits of trust—that is, of being trusting and of being trustworthy—are potentially immense, and because a successful market system teaches people to recognize those benefits. At this point, it’s been well demonstrated that flourishing economies require a healthy level of trust in the reliability and fairness of everyday transactions. If you assumed every potential deal was a rip-off or that the products you were buying were probably going to be lemons, then very little business would get done. As the economist Thomas Schelling has put it: “One has only to consider the
enormous frustration of conducting foreign aid in an underdeveloped country, or getting a business established there, to realize what an extraordinary economic asset is a population of honest conscientious people.”
Excerpt From: Surowiecki, James. “The Wisdom of Crowds.”

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Christian Voter Guide: Why Christians Should Vote!

When I hear Christians saying we ought not get involved in politics but just “preach the Gospel,” I show them this satellite picture of the Korean peninsula. South Korea is full of freedom, food and productivity—it’s one of the most Christianized countries in the world. North Korea is a concentration camp.   They have no freedom, no food, and very little Christianity.

What’s the primary reason for the stark difference between these two countries? Politics. The South politically allows freedom, while the North does not.

Ironically, Christians who shun politics to supposedly advance the Gospel are actually allowing others to stop the Gospel. How so? Because politics and law affects one’s ability to preach the Gospel!If you think otherwise, visit some of the countries I have visited—Iran, Saudi Arabia and China. You cannot legally “preach the Gospel” in those countries—or practice other aspects of your religion freely—because politically they’ve ruled it out as they have in North Korea (it seems the mayor of Houston was about to start down that road recently).

Watch the first two minutes of this video for more:

With that in mind, I strongly encourage you get out to vote THIS Tuesday, November 4th, and support the candidates who best represent natural law values consistent with the Bible. “For to whom much is given, much shall be required” (Luke 12:48). Voting is more than our opportunity to make a difference. It is a responsibility in being good stewards and protecting our freedom to spread the Gospel.  In fact, I think every citizen should get informed and vote.

Go to http://www.christianvoterguide.com/ for a guide to see where the candidates stand on the most important issues.

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” (Matt. 5:14-15)

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The Wisdom Chronicle

The Wisdom Chronicle is designed to bring nuggets of wisdom from the dozens of books I read every year. I endeavor to share the best of what I have gleaned. The determination of relevance lies with you. Blessings, Jim Whiddon

331. GOD’S OWNERSHIP “God gave humanity authority over the world’s resources but not ownership. We have received what we have in the way a fund manager receives other people’s money to invest, or as, in ancient times, the steward of an estate received his authority over the estate. The steward of a great estate lived comfortably and enjoyed the fruits of his labor, but he never made the mistake of thinking that the wealth under his care was all his. He was tasked to manage it in a way that pleased the owner and was fair to his fellow servants.

This concept is counterintuitive for most Americans. We believe that if we have had success in life, it is mainly the result of our own hard work, and we therefore have an absolute right to use our money as we see fit. But while the Bible agrees industriousness or the lack of it is an irreplaceable part of why you are successful or not (Proverbs 6:9-11; 10:4), it is never the main reason. In short, all your resources are in the end the gift of God.”

Excerpt From: Keller, Timothy. “Generous Justice.”

332. GOD’S HUMAN DESIGN Did you know that our jaw muscles stimulate chemicals being released in our body which help us maintain our proper weight? The more the muscles in our jaws are used – like when we eat natural “tougher” foods to chew – the less “tummy fat” we have. Processed foods require far less chewing and thus are less effective in this realm. Twenty to thirty chews per bite is the target. [In a self-conducted experiment – Twinkies require only six chews. – jw] Another example of God doing all things for those He loves – those He made!

— Unknown

333. CHRISTIANITY “The Christian religion, when brought to the original purity and simplicity of its benevolent Institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind.”

— T. Jefferson

334. THE PLEDGE In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the addition of “under God” in order to differentiate the United States from the officially atheist Soviet Union: “In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.”

335. GOD’S BLESSINGS ON OUR NATION “There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses. If it would confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favors alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing. . . .

Let us firmly rely on that kind Providence which I am sure watches with peculiar care over the destinies of our Republic, and on the intelligence and wisdom of our countrymen. Through His abundant goodness and their patriotic devotion our liberty and Union will be preserved.”

— President A. Jackson

336. HARVARD “Harvard’s founders created the school with this mission: “To be plainly instructed and consider well that the main end of your life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ.”

This was Harvard’s reason for existing. Harvard’s leaders placed very high value on the moral development of their students during the 1700s and 1800s. They responded to student infractions like vandalism, drunkenness, and sexual misconduct with resolute seriousness. They emphasized character and urged students to live “god-fearing, upright lives.”

In their hiring practices, Harvard hired first for mission fit. When interviewing faculty members, they looked preeminently at character, well before examining academic credentials. The curriculum and extracurricular content included Christian worldview training, promoted a “sacred regard for truth,” and emphasized the study of virtues.”

Excerpt From: Peter Greer, Chris Horst & Anna Haggard. “Mission Drift.”

337. PG13 “the Washington Post’s Liza Mundy, who made an in-depth study of the genre, wrote “it seems fair to say that kids will hear more bad language, and more forms of bad language, in PG-13 movies than they will in Rs.” In Mundy’s account, Nell Minow, whose father Newton Minow was an FCC commissioner, “says that her father always marveled at how parents will let Hollywood say things to their children that they would have an ordinary person on the street arrested for saying.”

Excerpt From: West, Diana. “The Death of the Grown-Up.”

338. CONFESSION “The word confession is a compound word in the language of the New Testament. It comes from a word meaning “to say” and another meaning “the same as.” Confession literally means that “we say the same as God” about our sin. We agree with Him regarding it. Sin is not some little vice that we can laugh off. It is not something we can excuse by saying everyone is doing it. It is not some sort of mistake that we can minimize by trying to convince ourselves that it is not as bad as the sins many others commit. Sin is so serious that it necessitated the cross. Often, our own guilt is God’s way of saying, “You have sinned.” Confession, then, is our way of saying, “I agree with You, God. I have sinned.”

Excerpt From: O. S. Hawkins. “The Joshua Code.”

339. BIBLE ERRORS? There are thousands of errors in New Testament. Yes, I am afraid so. The original manuscripts copied by human scribes in the early centuries AD made many mistakes. However, of those, 99% were in these three categories: A) use of the article “the” which was uniquely prolific in the Greek language, B) misspelling due to differing languages. example: “John” with two N’s instead of one, C) word order mix up (I.e. “Christ Jesus” vs. “Jesus Christ”).

The other 1% are word translation errors that scholars- whether conservative or liberal, they agree – do NOT change ANY aspect of Christian teaching. So, when someone says I don’t believe in God because the Bible has been “changed,” understand this argument is a smoke screen to avoid conforming their lives to what the Bible says.

— David Marvin, Watermark Church

340. GOVT STRINGS “With government shekels come government shackles.”

— Richard Land speaking on topic of schools taking federal dollars.

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