If Iron Sharpens Iron, Then Why Is The Reformed Drawer So Full of Dull, Rusty Knives?

Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

A good surgeon will use only the sharpest of knives. Why? It's because the sharper the knife, the cleaner the cut it makes. And the cleaner the cut, the closer the two sides match each other. The closer the two sides match each other, the easier it is for them to come together again in the healing process. Dull knives and chain saws make for hack jobs; the ripping up of flesh so that the two sides don't match each other. Healing is made much more difficult if not impossible. The word of God is spoken of as sharper than any two edged sword.

The irony of many Christians who hold to "doctrinal purity," and require the strictest adherence to doctrinal minutiae for fellowship, church membership, ministry leadership or pastoral candidacy is that they don't understand how iron sharpens iron. I can't tell you how many times I've heard Ephesians 4:3, "being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace", interpreted as, "you must agree with every doctrinal position of the elders/church/by-laws, etc." Disagreement in any form is shunned.

But iron sharpens iron because each piece is rough. They grate against each other and the friction caused by the imperfections is what eliminates the imperfections, resulting in a sharp knife or sword. When surgery is needed, success results. When roughness in beliefs is disallowed, and everybody in a particular group is required to believe the same exact thing, no sharpening can occur. The result is, ironically, the exact thing that is not allowed. What the doctrinal purists who distance themselves from others who disagree are in effect saying, is, "I will not be sharpened by another piece of iron." And so they exist as drawers full of dull, rusty knives. When surgery is needed, a hack job results, and the one in need of surgery is not healed, but rather wounded even more.

Got Toothpaste? State Sponsored Child Abduction and Destruction of a Family is a Better Solution

The other day I saw a brief story in the news about a mother (presumably a single mom) who was neglegent in her 5 year-old's dental care. An x-ray was shown on the news as supposed evidence to this fact. It was far more muddled than I'm used to seeing, but the idea was to show the extent of his tooth decay.

Somehow this was brought to the attention of state authorities. Their solution? Well, it wasn't to have a judge order the mom to pay for the proper care of her son's teeth (the biblical concept of tooth for tooth is backward and barbaric, don't you know). Rather it was to charge the mom with a crime, jail her, and abduct the child from his family and place him in that pedophile's paradise known as foster care (I know whereof I speak).

Now I know that there are quite a few stupid and ignorant people in the world. But God gave authority over children to the parents for a reason. If the parents are neglegent in a certain area (and aren't we all), why not encourage them to grow in that area?

Let me get this striaght. The problem was that the child was deprived of a toothbrush by his mother. So the solution is to also deprive the child of his mother, family, home, neighborhood, friends just so he can now have his teeth brushed? Is the government collectively demon-posessed?

Godzilla Brought Down The Twin Towers on 9-11

It might just be a coincidence. My oldest son has taken to like Godzilla movies, so we watched a new one (for us) tonight. Godzilla brought a number of buildings down in downtown Tokyo. The movie ended just before CBS's 9-11 documentary started, which showed the twin towers, plus tower 7, collapse.

For some reason I just can't believe that buildings fall like that without planned assistance. Especially after just an hour of fire from jet fuel (kerosene) that doesn't burn hot enough to melt steel. And buildings that aren't even hit, like building 7, don't just collapse on themselves from the bottom up.

Wacky conspiracy theories aside, the only plausible explanation is that Godzilla did it and that he's now invisible.

Apocalyptic Stupidstition

Superstition is stupid. That's why I call it stupidstition. As a child I learned all the superstitions of my parents' generation; not that my parents believed in them, but I knew them. Walking under a ladder, having a black cat cross your path, spilling salt, two people walking and having a vertical object pass between them, rabbit's feet, breaking a mirror, the number 13, etc. I've also experienced the stupidstitions of sports fans and players. Wearing dirty underwear during a winning streak until their team loses, lucky jerseys, players not stepping on the foul line and all the rest. Then there's the apocalyptic stupidstition.

A few years ago I went out to lunch with a friend from work to a deli. I ordered, and I'm sure it was an uncommon combination of items, then made it to the register. The cashier rang up my order and declared to me the amount. I could simultaneously feel several conversations of people in line behind me abruptly stop and also a number of people behind me take a collective step backward. It was an odd feeling, but I knew exactly what it was. The cashier immediately declared, "I can add an item to change the total if you'd like." "No," I replied, "I'm not superstitious."

The cause? My total was $6.66. Six dollars and sixty six cents. That's 666. The number of the beast. The anti-christ. That my lunch total showing up on the register could cause people to step away from me in fear says a lot about a generation of people who ridicule my parents' generation for their idiotic superstitions. They aren't any different.

Album Review: Led Zeppelin IV

I've finally pulled off something I've wanted to do for a long time; write an album review. I want to do this regularly in the future, writing about my favorite recordings (and maybe some not-so-favorite) from a number of musical genres. Music clearly falls into the category of God's kingdom, so I'll be mentioning the album reviews here, but posting them over at From the Front Porch. Read my first one here.

Labor Day

Today is "Labor Day" in the US - a national holiday. So I spent the day laboring in the yard. I'll labor some more tonight as we need to get some things done. I'll celebrate the end of my labors when I get them done.